Fighting 4 Survival with Friends
by Hayden-Strife
Summary: my first fic lots of OCs, AU after an outbreak of a deadly virus, Hayden, Claude, and their friends must band together in order to survive
1. Prologue

This is my first story please be kind with me.

I do not own Left 4 Dead Bill, Francis, Louis, Zone, the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer, Tank, or Witch. They all belong to Steam. I also do not own the common infected, or the infection.

My story is about my own OC's with the exception of Claude, if you don't want to read about OC's or AU's them find another story

Hayden Strife is my own character, Claude Kogima is my brother's

p.s. if you want to know what Hayden's hair looks like it's the same as Hayate/Ein's hair from dead or Alive 3 but black

p.p.s. Hayden is a 23 years old Caucasian-Latino(Spaniard) , Claude is a 24 year old Caucasian-Latino(Mexican-Cuban). They are only five months apart in age.

p.p.p.s. the collage they attend has the freshman class start at the age of 21. It's my story get over it.

p.p.p.p.s. please review constructive criticism is appreciated.

Prologue

One and one half weeks after first infection

Saturday September 29th, 2021

11:40 a.m.

Bzzzz…..bzzzz…..bzzzz…..bzzzz, went my phone; the stupid vibration was strong enough to wake me up. In checked the caller ID to see if I should answer it. It read Claude K., damn.

I flipped open my phone and asked "Prez what do you need?"

"Strife I know you my friend but your late for our meeting. You said you would be here an hour early, you have twenty minutes to get here before the recruits do." Claude said

"Yessir; I'll be there ASAP." I said. After closing my phone I wondered why we had to be as military as possible. I mean I know that Clause grew up in a military family, but he lives, breathes, eats, and sleeps military. It's funny though he grew up military but his friends call him the Russian 'cause he adores the Spetsnaz as soldiers, that and he has a pretty good Russian accent.

Enough thinking about nothing I need to get dressed. I went to my closet and picked out a black t-shirt and a pair of standard issue Marine Corps Combat Utility Uniform trousers. After buttoning the pants I put on my tanker boots, provided by Claude, I have absolutely no idea where he got these but I'm not complaining they are flame resistant and are better that steel-toed shoes. I went to my bathroom to quickly brush my teeth and style my hair. Even though my hair is only shoulder length I hate styling is but if I don't I walk around with a bad case of bed head.

*10-15 minutes later*

While driving to Claude's family gun range, Point-Squeeze-Reload, on my black and red Honda CBR600RR, I noticed that the freeway way was virtually empty. Truth be told I was slightly nervous about this situation, 'cause normally this freeway is packed will cars heading to the "pleasure center" of the city (No it's not what you'd think it's called the "pleasure center" because it is where the theme park, theatres, theaters, arcades, and malls are). I pushed my nervousness out of my head. I was twenty miles away form Point, Squeeze, Reload and I needed to be there fast. I slowed down just enough to safely look at my watch. Boy I wish I hadn't. It was 11:53, I had seven minutes to get there or Claude would kill me. I used the empty road to my advantage, I sped up to 85mph I knew as long as I don't meet any other drivers or pedestrians I should make it to Claude's with a minute or so to spare.

*five minutes fifty seconds later*

"Yes! Made it!" I shouted to no one in particular as I parked my CBR600RR in the front next to Claude's jet black Koenigsegg CCX. I noticed that there were a few other cars, a navy blue 2010 Shelby GT500 with white racing stripes (cliché anyone?), a 2009 Camaro Black Concept, a maroon Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MR, a gunmetal green Nissan GT-R, and a crimson and Charcoal Dodge Viper ACR. Looking at the cars I wondered how it was that Claude always managed to attract the wealthy people from our campus to join our little under funded military club. Anyway after dismounting, and taking the key out of the ignition, my CBR600RR I opened the door to Point-Squeeze-Reload and walked into the break room that Claude was having his meeting in. When I walked in the room I noticed that Claude had already started the meeting. There were five people in the room, three males and two females. Claude, standing in the front, was towering over everyone at 6'3" (that's why I hate him I'm only 5"11 and ¾"), he had medium length dyed white hair, styled in a bed head fashion, three scars on the left side of his face from the ear to the lip, and he also wore red, non prescription contacts. He was wearing his traditional black trench coat with his white tee underneath, and had a pair of dark jeans and black steel-toed boots. Then he turned to face me, with a smug look on his face, and said to the new members, "Look at who finally decided to show up." "Prez sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" I responded embarrassingly placing my right hand on the back of my head. I mentally kicked my self in the head for stopping to look at the new member's cars. If I didn't do that I would have make it before noon. "So I guess that lunch is one me then?" I asked. "You forget about the meeting but you manage to remember the first rule of the club (the last official member, not recruits, has to pay for the club meeting's meal), you are like the club's own oxymoron, remembering rules forgetting everything else. The next two rules are not to talk about this club." said Claude. That comment managed to get the recruits to laugh. "He's right, you helped him start the club but you forget this important meeting" Said one of the two females. Looking at her I guessed that she was about 21, a freshman at this school. She was about 5'6" had medium-long (past her shoulders) black hair with red highlights, green eyes, and looked slightly Asian, possibly Chinese or Japanese. She wore an open black zip-up with a black tee underneath, and black jeans; I could also see the holster she wore on her hips. "I'm Sabri-" she started to say before I cut her off. "Sabrina Colt, heiress to the Colt fortune." I said for her. She looked confused so I felt obligated to explain myself. "I know who the major weapon manufacturers are, there families, any anything to deal with their business lives. I also know that the Springfield twins, Jonathan and Dwight, are at this school as well." Claude looked at me with an impressed expression for apparently he didn't think I knew about this. I don't blame him though we share the same classes and I struggle to keep up with the work while he gets A's on the most impossible tasks. Turning to the person next to Sabrina, an Italian by the looks of him I asked for his name. It was Enzo Trovatelli. He's about 5'8", 22 year old, and had really, short, dark brown hair. He was wearing a short sleeve oxford black shirt with an old LP shirt underneath, he also wore black jeans (those must be popular or something that's three people so far), he too had a holster but it was located under his right armpit. The girl next to him was Cerena O'Connor, Claude's current girlfriend (now that I thought about it the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X MR looked very familiar). She was 23 years old, 5'7", Caucasian, dirty-blonde. She wore a red jacket, black cargo pants and white sneakers. The last person in the room was Hershel Lionheart, an old friend of Claude and mine. He was the runt of our group, his height being 5'7". He was the only one dressed casually; he was wearing a grey hoodie, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of running shoes. He had enough of his red hair to cover the patch he wore over his right eye. After saying my hellos to everyone I took my spot next to Claude answering any questions about the club. Truth be told I couldn't answer anything because Claude changed our Military Weapons Tactics and Training Club to a Zombie Hunting Club just because he felt like it. Because Claude decided to change the club I sat down with the rest of the new members. Claude was now explaining all the rules, procedures, and all that good stuff. I was only half listening writing key information on a clipboard with my right hand. With my left I started to doodle, what can I say I was bored and I wanted to shoot stuff. Claude was just starting to explain the range's shooting schedule when we heard the front door slam open (if you don't understand what I mean try it for yourself). We also heard what sounded like muffled moans and growls. "Claude! We know we're late but you have got to see this! We found out why the city seems disserted! Though when you see this you'll wonder why you didn't notice something of this level was going on!" shouted two similar voices. I noted that there was a sense of fear in the voices. We all went to the front entrance. We could not believe what we were seeing. To be blunt it was a zombie that was bound, gagged, and covered in hotdogs. Everyone but the two new people laughed for a bit at the picture because we realized the zombie before he was a zombie was used as bait so his "friends" could escape. After we laughed the horrible truth sunk in: We're in the center of a zombie infested city. Not good considering the city has about 30,000 people living in it. "Well" Claude said "It looks like we have a problem on our hands. Hayden, take the twins and go to the shed out back and bring out as many of the attaché cases you can within ten minutes. Everyone else follow me to the lockers. We're going to suit up and get as prepared as we can to make it to the military base on the outskirts of this city"

A/N: hope you liked the prologue, please give me some reviews this is my first story and I would like to know if there is any thing I can do to make it better


	2. Chapter 1: The First Safe Room

I do not own Left 4 Dead Bill, Francis, Louis, Zone, the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer, Tank, or Witch. They all belong to VALVe. I also do not own the common infected, or the infection.

My story is about my own OC's with the exception of Claude, if you don't want to read about OC's or AU's them find another story

Hayden Strife is my own character, Claude Kogima is my brother's

Remember please review I can't fix any errors if no one says anything

p.s. the italicized text if written from Claude's point of view, written by "Claude" himself; don't review about his writing

The First Safe Room

As soon as Claude told me to take the twins to the shed I did. Only after he said that though, did I get a good look at the twins. The twins were Jonathan and Dwight Springfield. They were obviously identical twins. The only difference between them was that Jonathan had black hair with gold streaks and Dwight had gold hair with black streaks. They dressed similarly, black pants, blue shirt, and black shoes, though Dwight was dressed more formally with slacks, an oxford shirt, and dress shoes (I have no idea what they are called), I could tell that he would inherit his family's business while Jonathan, dressed in a blue tee, black jeans, and black running shoes, was going to inherit his family's fortune. A no brainier, both were Caucasian. They also stood at about 6'1" (damn it they're taller than me too).

The shed was located on the eastern end of the building next to parking lot. While we ran to the shed I noticed the one of the twin's car. It was a gamboge Ford GTX1 with black racing stripes, and side skirts. I thought to myself that these two really know how to spend their money. When we got to the shed I unlocked the number pad lock (1111).

"Jonathan grab the smaller attaché cases, a.k.a. the ones with smgs and pistols, Dwight grab what long and thin cases, a.k.a. the one's with assault rifles, rifles and shotguns, you can" I said as I was grabbing what I knew were Claude's personal attaché cases. His first one was 62" long, 11" wide, 16" tall and weighed almost 55 lbs. His second one was a lot smaller and lighter, at 18" long, 8" wide 14" tall, and weighed 5.5lbs. After grabbing Claude's cases I picked up two more, one was 31" long, 10" wide, 12" tall, and weight about 8 lbs. The last case I picked up was 34" long, 10" wide, 10" tall, and about 7lbs. Considering that I was at the limit of what I could carry; I hurried pack to the room that Clause had specified. I noticed that Jonathan was carrying a lot of cases, and Dwight was carrying at least six cases, needlessly to say I was impressed. After we had put the cases on the table I, in said room, we sprinted back to the shed for one last run. When we got in the shed we didn't grab any of the weapon cases, instead we grabbed the boxes of ammo. We pretty much took every caliber there was (.22 .38, .45, .50 BMG, .50 AE, .50 S&W just to name a few). We carefully but quickly took the boxes of ammo to the aforementioned room. When we got there Claude was already suited up, he strapped a holster for his Colt M1911 to his right thigh, his HK (Heckler & Koch) MP5K was hanging from his shoulder, the strap attached to the gun allowed him to do that, and his mysterious 55lb case was on his back attached to another, albeit thick strap.

"Ahh, Hayden, just in time. You can have first pick of the guns" Claude said as he saw us enter the room.

"Seriously!" Both Sabrina and I said. Ok that confused me, was this girl so concerned that Claude gave me the first choice of his guns. Shouldn't it be obvious that I would get the first pick; I did bring him his personal weapons, also I am his best friend, well that and he's kind of like the brother I wish I had.

"Why yes little Sabrina; I am serious that Hayden gets the first pick. I know that you might come from a powerful family, but Hayden is not only my best friend but he's also the younger brother I always wanted" he said in a way that almost as if he was a little child. I almost laughed right then and there, but I was able to control myself. I knew that if I laughed I would be the last one to pick a gun. That is if he let me have one at all.

"Thanks Claude" I said as I walked over to the table. I went to the two cases that I brought and opened them. I could not believe what he had in them. The first one was an IMI (Israel Military Industries) Tavor TAR-21; inside the other one was a FN SCAR-H CQC (close quarter combat). After I grabbed them I headed to my locker in the next room. When I got in there I opened it and took out a tactical vest, and put it one; I put it on so I have a place to strap the rifles on. Next I took out and strapped my 12" long MercWorx Tanto Chili and my 11" MercWorx Shiva knives (that I got from Claude to match his 9 ¾" and 15 ¾" long MercWorx knives named David and Goliath) to myself, the Tanto to my lower back at the waist, and my Shiva to my chest bladed end sticking up (both knives are in scabbards). After that was done I took out all the holsters I owned, two hip holsters, two thigh holsters, and two that I put on my lower back attaching them to my belt. The ones on my thighs were for my HK (Heckler & Koch) MK 23 Mod 0 pistols. The holsters on my hips were inverted (the gun I use in my right hand is on my left and vice versa) and they were for my double stack Colt M1911s. Finally the holsters on the belt were for my custom S&W (Smith & Wesson) Model 500s (custom in the way that they have six chambers instead of five, they also have a 10.5" barrel). Since I was suited up as well I went back to see if everyone else had picked their guns.

To my surprise everyone was pretty much ready to move out. I looked at the group to see that weapons they chose starting with Hershel. He was sporting an HK G36A2 with an AG36 grenade launcher, Armsel Protecta (Striker, Street Sweeper, or Jail Breaker whatever you want to call it). He also had two holsters on his thighs for his black sawn-off shotguns; man those things were short, about 13" long, there was no way in hell that those things were anywhere near legal, but right now, who honestly gives a fuck. Cerena had an M16A4 with an M203 40 mm grenade launcher and ACOG scope. She also had a B&T (Brügger & Thomet) MP9. She had only one holster on her hip that was for her FN Five-Seven IOM pistol. Enzo had a Benelli M4 Super 90 and a Franchi SPAS-12 with folding stock. He told us that he would use slugs with the SPAS-12. In the holster under his arm he had a Beretta 93R. Both Jonathan and Dwight were using M14 rifles, and FN had a holster on their thighs with a SIG P226. Lastly Sabrina had an HK SL8 and an HK MP7A1. In her holster she had a Beretta M9.

"Ok I know this is probably none of my business but why are you using an M9, Sabrina?" I asked when the realization finally hit me. "I mean the 1911 is a far superior pistol. You should know that your family is the ones that produce all COLT firearms" I said emphasizing the name Colt.

"Firstly you're right it is none of your business, and secondly the M9 is far more superior then a 1911. The M9 can hold fifteen rounds while the 1911 can only hold seven" Sabrina retorted

"Sure the M9 holds more than a maximum of eight or a minimum of one, but that's beside the point. The M9 is a small 9x19mm Parabellum rounds while the 1911 uses a .45 ACP. It's a bigger round that causes more damage and has more stopping power." I semi-shouted back

"Ok I understand that you love the 1911 but the truth is…" she started to say when Claude came up and slapped her in the back of the head. After he slapped her he spit on the ground and started to mutter something in Russian.

"Ok people we are going to be in groups of four. So I'm going to tell you all only once I'm Alpha One and Hayden is Bravo One" said Claude after he regained his composure. "My team will be composed of myself, Cerena, Enzo, and, sorry you two, but Dwight."

"What you're pairing me with the idiot who loves the M1911/M9!" both Sabrina and I shouted at the same time. Honestly I was pissed, she thought that I was an idiot just because I knew that the 1911 was a better pistol. Did she honestly believe that a small caliber bullet, I mean it was almost a small as a .22, was better than a .45? I guess when the time comes I'll have to prove to her that the 1911 is a far better weapon.

"Well yes, you two, I expect that you'll both at least try to put this difference behind you for now. I know that the 1911 is better, but right now there are far more important things to worry about." Claude said to us. "Now come on and get to your cars, in your case Hayden, your bike."

*five minutes later*

We all headed for our respective vehicles. Claude entered his jet black Koenigsegg CCX. I was surprised to find out that Sabrina owned the navy blue 2010 Shelby GT500. I saw Hershel hop through the window of his black 2009 Camaro. Cerena climbed in to her maroon Lancer Evo X. Enzo had the gunmetal green Nissan GT-R. Jonathan entered his Ford GTX1 and Dwight entered his crimson and Charcoal Dodge Viper ACR. We then quickly drove out of the parking lot and headed to the highway.

By the time we made it to the highway, our convoy moving at nearly 80 MPH. We were about half the distance to the 'Pleasure Center' when we came across a few stalled vehicles, some with the windows sprayed with dark red, some burnt or burning, and some flipped over. We pushed forward slowly, as to not damage our vehicles, and realized just how quiet it all was. The eerie silence, however, was soon gone and replaced with an increasing tremble. The sound was explained as 6 US UH-60s (Black Hawks), flying in formation, flew over us towards the city. They were all carrying armed troops. Claude killed his engine, stepped out, and walked over to me.

"Yeah, you'd have to be blind to not see those guns," He said, going on to explain the door mounted guns. I really didn't care. "We're gonna need a plan."

"You got that right" I replied to Claude. "So should we try and make it to the mall or something, 'cause I mean, I know that we aren't going to be the last ones to find out what's going on." I still couldn't believe that the six of us honestly didn't notice that something of this scale was going on, but I sadly knew that we wouldn't be the last ones to find out. I truly felt bad for those poor people who would find out by the time it's too late to do anything.

"The mall sounds like a solid idea, but let's head over to the school first. I have a few very important items still in my locker there."

"Are those items really that important?"

"I'm afraid that they are. I really need to have them on me."

"Fine we'll head over to the school and your team can help to retrieve whatever it is that you need." I said Claude; I knew that if he truly needed whatever it was that we had to get we would have to get them, but it angered me that he only told me about this now. Claude has a great habit of remembering important things in very inconvenient times.

As Claude started to head back to his car he made the announcement that he and I had just talked about. I saw that his team was slightly upset that they had to follow him there but they knew that if they didn't help Claude he would not help them if they needed or asked for it. His team followed without any argument.

"So Hayden, uhhh what are we going to do?" Hershel asked me. Now that is one question I don't know how to answer. I mean I want to go back and help Claude but at the same time I believe that he and his team are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

When finally found an answer I said "We'll head over to the first electronic store we find. We're going to take eight comlinks. After that we're heading back to the school to assist Claude and his team." With that said we got back into our respective vehicles and made our way to the closest electronics store.

~POV: Claude Kogima~

*As the helicopters pass*

The instant I saw the helicopters racing towards the city, I realized two things:

One: We just wrote the plot to a kickass action flick, and

Two: With the military involved (and needing reinforcements) that something serious was going on…and it'd be hard to get into the city with the (assumed) quarantine.

How did we miss this?

To get in would require some serious luck, or…

That's it, I thought. ..

I explained to Hayden that I would need to take my team to G. Freeman University (home of the Iron Crowbars) to get something out of my locker.

*later*

As my team and I drove onward towards the city center to get to the school, Hayden drove back the way we came from. Odd, but I shouldn't criticize him; after all, he puts up with all the random crap I do…

*later again*

When we got there, there were the remains of a poorly constructed barricade at the gates. There was an overturned SWAT vehicle, and a few SWAT officers. All of them dead, along with other scattered corpses, silently telling a story of how the zombies got to them, despite their automatic MP5s. It was a very sad sight, but we had to keep moving.

How in hell did we miss this?

I told the others that we had to get to the second floor of the 600 building, and that was all the way across the school. They followed silently; this was the first time they saw, smelled, and experienced death firsthand.

We half walked, half ran to the destination. Five minutes later at about halfway, or in the 300 wing [first floor (It's taking so long because certain areas are blocked off or caved in)], we started to hear weird noises. I don't mean weird-weird, but weird like when your really fat friend ate that last burrito when you told him not to, and now he's kinda throwing up everywhere. You know that sound. I immediately knew what it was, a Boomer. I played the game before, I would know…

I told my team to stay alert and to be careful, there was no need to let them know what a boomer was or what its special ability was.

I thought that it was a good plan, God thought otherwise 'cause the next thing that happened was that Cerena was screaming in disgust and I knew exactly why. She had been barfed on.

DAMM IT! I thought…or yelled, I still don't know.

We had taken care of the Boomer with a satisfying BOOM and then headed for the nearest bathroom, to get rid of the vomit and bile on Cerena. We turned on the tap and…

Just my luck… The city had stopped pumping water to this part of the city so, we did the best we could to wipe off the bile with what we had [thankfully there were paper towels still here and plenty of soap (public bathrooms, eh?)].

"Why did we have to get that stuff off of her so soon, Claude?" Enzo had asked me.

"Do you really want to know?" I replied in a, what I hoped to be, menacing tone.

"Yes I'm fairly certain that Dwight and I really want to know." He retorted as if he thought that I thought that I was better than him. To be truthful though I really was starting to get pissed by him, most of the time he was complaining just loud enough so that I would hear him. But I guess he could use a wakeup call, and as I thought this I smirked.

"Fine have it your way." I said nonchalantly, putting on a pair of glasses, a lab coat, and pulling out a clipboard. "The bile has a special pheromone that attracts all zombies that are close by. Considering there are bound to be zombies everywhere…" Oh that did the trick. Enzo's face showed that he had immediately regretted pissing me off. "Now shut up and follow me, we're close to my locker," I said as he checked outside for zombies, while I took off all the crap I put on.

*a few moments later*

I had found a Remington M870 by the corpse of a police officer; when I found it I emptied it to see how many shells were still inside. There were only four shells, but it was ok there; were corpses of his partners and they had the ammo I needed. Taking ammo from dead cops is just how I start my day, you know? I picked it up in the first place because I didn't want to use my other weapon if I needed more firepower than my MP5K could provide. Also, a shotgun wouldn't drain ammo in these corridors.

We heard the beating from behind locked and blocked doors, knowing that despite us cleaning off the bile, the zombies were still in full knowledge of where we were. Cerena was still gagging, half from being vomited on, and half from the horrid smell. It smelled like week old vomit left on its own…. Oh yeah huh…

~POV: Hayden Strife~

*Back after Claude Left*

As we made our way to the electronic store I couldn't help but feel somewhat guilty because I felt as if I had abandoned Claude. I need to stop thinking this way because I knew that I was going to go and help him as soon as I got the comlinks. Why was I getting com links, you ask; it was so that Claude and I could communicate between ourselves and our team without being too loud or close. Being quiet would be a must I mean the zombies would have no problem finding us if we were too loud. Damn it, I realized that Sabrina wouldn't care, she hated me because I knew that the M1911 was a better pistol than the M9 and would therefore fight with me as often as she could until I would agree with her. Which I wouldn't, but… I would find a way to get her to drop this little feud.

*later, at this very time Claude's group is under attack*

We made it to the electronic store, encountering only a small number of zombies, but my groups cars were able to flatten them no problem which is more than I can say if I tried to his one with my bike. Anyway when we got to the front of the store we all got out of our respective vehicles and grouped up. I went in first holding an MK 23 in each hand. I saw that there were five zombies in the store, two in the corner resting their heads on the wall, one sitting on the ground in the middle of the store throwing up, and two behind the counter, that turn to face me. I opened fire aiming each gun at the two behind the counter; both fell to the floor after being shot in the head. The shots alerted the other three zombies, reacting quickly I opened fire at them, but because adrenaline was running through me at that point, I emptied the remaining 28 rounds into the closest zombie to me before realizing the mistake I made. It was a good thing Hershel ran into the store as soon as he heard the shots I fired. He readied his custom sawn-off shotguns and literally obliterated the last of the zombies before they managed to claw at me.

"You ok?" Hershel asked me "By the way, why did you waste the rest of your mags on one zombie?"

"Yeah I'm fine Hershel, and I had a case off tunnel vision," I said with gratitude "also shouldn't you reload those things?"

"No don't need to each still has three more double shots( when two shells are fired one right after the other because they only have one trigger but can still fire one shot if pulled halfway)" he said as he snapped his guns down to eject the spent cartridges.

"Ok, now let's get what we came for and go back and help Claude" after saying that I headed to find said comlinks. After about ten minutes I found the perfect ones. They were small and the batteries could be charged by its solar panels. After finding the comlinks I noticed that there were some small but powerful LED flashlights and considering that we might have to travel at night why not grab some. So I did, I grabbed about forty and put them in the various pockets in both my pants and tactical vest. I also spotted some, what the display claimed to be, really powerful laser. I tried them out and wouldn't know for once the advertisement was truth; I could clearly see the dot on the wall, in the middle of the day, in a room with bright lights on. I was definitely taking some on these and now we only need tape to attach them to our guns.

"Ok guys we got what we needed and then some." I said "So let's hurry and go to the school to met up with Claude and his group"

*later*

We made it to G. Freeman University and I was worried, 'cause when we got there we saw an overturned SWAT vehicle and the remnants of people, but really worried me was that most the SWAT personal were nowhere to be seen. Pushing any doubt I had out of my mind I signaled for my group to move to the closest door in front of us. When we opened the door we heard gunshots (the buildings are sound proof); I knew that Claude and his group were in trouble and we sprinted as fast as we could to get to them, but when we got to the stars that led to the 600 wing (I really hate the layout of this school, I mean a wing on top of another) it was blocked off from the other side. I knew why though, something happened do that Claude had to seal off an entrance for the zombies.

"Hershel, did you bring any grenades for the AG36 on your G36A2?" I asked.

""Yeah but what good will tha…."he started to say before the obvious thing hit him, "You sure we have enough room to do that?"

"Honestly, I don't know but we won't do it if both Jonathan and Sabrina have a problem with it" I said hesitantly.

"It's not a problem" Jonathan said. I knew that he was eager to go and help his brother and I completely under stood the feeling; after all, Claude is the closest thing I have to a brother.

"Well it looks like it doesn't matter what I have to say now does it. I'm already out voted three to two." Sabrina said; actually it was more of a cross between a snarls and a hiss. Damn, this girl has issues them it comes to others not agreeing with her. It's going to be a pain in the ass to get her to follow orders without completely hating them.

"Fine; since that is settled everybody back up fifteen feet, to be safe, Hershel take the shot as soon as we're the safe distance." As soon as I said this we all hurried to get out of the AG36's 40x46mm grenade's blast radius. And as soon as we did Hershel immediately took the shot.

There was a big explosion and after the dust and debris settled we made our way to the direction that Claude's team's gun sounds were coming from. It took about two minutes but we saw them they showed signs of fatigue. I couldn't blame them though there were about fifty or so forms of rekilled zombies.

"You guys mildly ok? And why does Cerena smell like…." ("Yeah I/she know[s] shut up and Claude/I'll explain" both Claude and Cerena interrupted) I asked because they didn't look completely ok. Claude; was the only one unscratched, Cerena took a bit of damage, Dwight was covered in blood that we hoped wasn't his, and Enzo, well honestly he looked like crap. His clothes were badly torn, he had a couple of gashes on his arm, he looked slightly grey, but I guess that's because of blood lose, and the coughing like crazy.

"Yeah we're fine" Claude, Cerena, and Dwight said at the same time. But Claude then took over for group when he said, "But Enzo inhaled some of the smoke that the Smoker left when we killed it. And Cerena smells like shit because she was Boomer barfed" As soon as Claude

"A Smoker/Boomer?" everyone, but except for myself, asked.

"Yes a Smoker, it's a really tall zombie about seven feet tall with tumors all over its body. They have tongues that can stretch for about a hundred feet, and their tongues also regenerate." Claude said.

"And how do you know all this" everyone asked.

Before Claude could answer I told everyone the reason "That's because a few years ago a game was released that was about a 'zombie' apocalypse and the main characters came across infected, and special infected. The Specials were the Hunter, an agile one meant for pouncing its opponents; it also had a great leaping range. There were Smokers that Claude already explained. There are Boomers, giant fat zombie filled with methane that causes it to explode covering all those near it in a pheromone enriched bile that calls all infected nearby, and it also has a projectile vomit that is made up the same bile. Tanks are giant, muscular zombies that stand at about ten feet tall that uses its giant arms to pummel anything in front of it, and lastly there is the Witch the most passive yet deadliest one of them all. She sits in one spot crying until someone disturbs her, and when someone does they're a goner because of her razor sharp fifteen inch long claws.

"They also made a sequel only a year after the original was released and it featured three new infected. The Charger, an eight foot fall zombie with a massive right arm that was used to, for a lack of better words, charges at this prey and run until it hits a wall and at that point it'll start slamming its victim until it either died or killed the victim. The Spitter is a seven foot tall zombie that spits a highly acidic substance at anything that it can't infect and the acid starts to dissolve whatever it lands on, after being exposed to oxygen for only two seconds, for about ten to fifteen seconds. And finally there's the Jockey. This little bastard jumps on its prey and rides it- ("Like a jockey" Claude had interrupted) - wherever it wants whiles clawing at sad prey." I finished.

Everyone looked at us as if they couldn't believe what they just heard. And all of that information came from a video game (which none of them played). But after about five minutes of silence we headed to Claude's locker to get whatever it was he needed to get. Apparently it was his Military I.D. that showed that he, and anyone he wanted, would be allowed out (or in) of any quarantine. Now I knew why it was so important, there was definitely going to be a quarantine around the city. It now seemed so obvious to me. The second thing he took out were his MercWorx knives. After that was done we noticed that there were four people running to the gym (I saw someone in a red jacket, one who must've been a biker, an African business man, and someone wearing old 27th Infantry, "Wolfhounds" army jacket). We decided that we should follow. After all, we need all the help we can get, right?

*in front of the gym about a five minute trek*

Aside from Enzo, Claude's group was looking better, and besides a few scratches they were unharmed. Most of the blood had been the zombies'. I hated to think about it right now but I knew that at some point we would have to kill Enzo, because I knew he caught the smoker strain of this virus. It was obvious; I began to wonder how Enzo didn't pick up on this. When we walked to the gym I discussed with Claude that we would have to do it only when he changed and if he didn't retain any of his humanity. The journey to the gym was uneventful; I guess that the group we should thank the group we were following because without them, we would have h ad to kill the rest of the infected that we would have come across. By the time we made it to the gym Enzo started coughing like crazy. I knew that this was the moment; now or never.

Enzo leaned against a nearby wall, as he couldn't support himself during his fit of coughing. Many tumors began to grow from his arms, hands, and the entire left side of his face, at least as far as we could see. In addition, his fingers began to grow sharp (but short) claws. As he slowly began to look up from his leaning position, I quietly called his name while reaching for my S&W M500. He didn't seem to understand what I was saying, because when he turned to face me I noticed that his right eye was foggy, devoid of life. I brought my magnum to his head and fired. Everyone but Claude must have thought I snapped because they aimed their guns at me, at least until they saw the tumor covered body of what was once Enzo (why weren't they looking?). Then it clicked for Claude's team, because they knew what a Smoker looked like.

As his bloody form slumped to the ground, Claude said "Take a good look; this is the enemy. They might look like friends, relatives, and maybe even pets, but strike before they get you, most will not retain their humanity. To find out if they still remember you, you will have to try and communicate with them" Claude went on for about five minutes on Infection Safety 101.

"Okay, so we know how we should handle these infected. But what if some are in ballistic (bullet proof) armor?" Dwight had asked Claude after his "lesson" was done.

"Well if that were the case then you should aim for the unprotected joints. But what are the chances of that happening?" Claude answered

"Right now about one hundred percent, because a group of infected SWAT are just noticing us" Jonathan said.

We all looked behind Claude, and, sure enough, a group of ballistic armor wearing infected was just starting to look our way. And just as our luck would have it they started to run at us. Our group then opened fire at them. Unfortunately most of the group's weapons weren't a high enough caliber to penetrate the armor. Claude and Hershel were waiting for them to come closer since they both had shotguns, I was shooting them with my S&W M500s because I knew those could pierce the ballistic armor, while the rest of us just tried to slow them down while we looked for a safe place to hold out in. After a while of shooting armored SWAT infected, we made it to the dorms of the school and when we stumbled across a giant, reinforced, red steel door, with a small window, and Claude went and tried to open it. The door was one that opened inward and, with our luck, it was barricaded from the inside. Honestly I was pissed who in their right mind would barricade a door that other people might have to use. But luckily for us, I think, Claude always carried a small block of C-4 on him at all times. He threw the small block in the window and told us to run back. He then pushed the small handheld detonator as we were still wondering what he said.

The aftermath of the small but powerful explosion was that the red steel door had a small hole in it, about the size of your head, and the barricade on the other side was pushed back or destroyed. Most of us were thrown onto the ground by the explosion, with only Claude and I left standing, and we were both smirking like a pair of idiots.

"Now that was awesome! I never thought I'd see the day you actually used your C-4" I said, still smirking like an idiot.

"I know I never thought I would have to use it either, or that it would be that powerful for such a small amount." Claude said.

All of us then went in side I stayed out to make sure nothing followed, when I noticed that on one of the balconies there was a pale man in a blue suit, with a small briefcase, that looked at us with disgust. He quickly adjusted his tie, turned around and walked away. Ok I was confused, I knew that I would tell the group but my gut said that I should wait until I knew that that man was a threat. Anyway I quickly when back into the safe room and helped Claude to put a small barricade that we would dismantle after we had what we needed and left, but for now we took a small break.

A/N: please remember I need reviews to improve my story


	3. Chapter 3

**Well I'll admit that I've been gone an extremely long time all for countless reasons some good , others are just excuses but for the longest time I just lacked motivation but any who he is the next ( and long awaited for my friends irl) chapter**

New Allies

In the safe room, our break was close to thirty minutes long, just enough to revitalize and grab what we could from the room, which were fast acting painkillers [(so cleverly named Pain Pills) I hate generic brand names] and a crowbar (which Claude just had to have). It was after seeing the crowbar when it hit me: only Claude and I had any melee weapons, our knives and his new crowbar; so I had to do something about that.

"Claude, I think we should hit a sporting goods store or something." I said

"And why should we do that; that'll just take us the long way to the base." Claude had replied.

"It's because you and I are the only ones with any way of living when we run out of ammo" I said calmly.

"Umm…don't you mean if we run out of ammo?" both Sabrina and Cerena asked.

"No, he's right," he said slowly after some thought. "Unless we find the right type of ammo for our guns, we'll have to have some way to fight the infected off; Hayden and I have our knives, and I now have this." He said as he raised up his new crowbar. After showing off with is "skills" with the crowbar (he really just swung it around like an idiot), everyone just agreed to head to a sporting goods store.

We left the security of the safe room after that. The good thing about breaking into the safe room was that the other door, the exit, was cleared of infected, because of the group that locked the safe room exited, clearing a path of infected with them. It was an easy trip; we only came across ten of the common infected and one Hunter (it had managed to pounce Claude but he just pulled out David and stabbed it in the face).

When we finally made it to the mall we headed for the Northern Plaza because it had just about everything and anything we could use as melee weapons because of its martial arts weapon store, department store, Rippin' Jack's Blades store, the guitar shop, and most importantly it was home to the Gun Shack, which luckily carried the type of ammo that we needed.

"Okay, everyone head over to any shop you think will have what you feel comfortable with crushing a zombie's face in." Claude said. "We'll meet back here when Hayden says to." Before Sabrina could even ask why, Claude cut her off, "Hayden decides because he's on look out, meaning that he will not be able to look for a weapon."

With that said everyone headed off in their directions. Right off the bat Dwight and Jonathan headed into the sporting goods store and went straight for the bats. I could also see that they were arguing on what type of bat to get, not that I could blame them; after all they had a choice between the iconic wooden ones, lightweight aluminum ones, and durable carbon fiber ones. Hershel and Sabrina went into the guitar shop and I was impressed on two accounts; firstly that they were willing to use guitars for weapons, and secondly, a.k.a. the most important reason, was that Hershel could even stand being that ungrateful little―wait a minute were did Claude and Cerena go?

"Damn it Claude, there are only two things that you and Cerena could be doing and I swear that if you're not looking for melee weapons I'm going to skin you!" I semi-shouted into my comlink. And of course Claude either turned his com off or he's just not listening to be for something that he finds trivial.

While I was on look out I started thinking that I should grab a fire axe or a sledge hammer for a melee weapon because they would serve a practical use, just like Claude's crowbar. So I made the decision that as soon as I saw one I would grab it. And soon everyone called back to tell me that they were ready and waiting my all clear sign.

"Its all clear everyone so quickly regroup on me." I said, but then remembering about security alarms, I quickly said "But remember to take off the secu―" *sounds off at least three alarms going off* "―rriitttyy taaaggss. Damn it, everyone into the Gun Shack now!"

Everyone knew were it was located so I didn't worry about them getting lost, nor did I worry about them surviving as they each had someone to watch their backs; I didn't. This was going to be tough; everyone was on the same floor as the Shack while I was two floors above that. But at the time it seemed like a good idea because it had a great vantage point of most of the shops with useable melee weapons.

"I understand that there must be some reason why you told us to head for the Gun Shack, but can you let us know why we have to go there?" Hershel asked through his comlink.

"It's because the Horde are attracted to lots of loud and obnoxious noises. So they'll be here in a few minutes and they'll keep coming until we shut off the alarm system. So logically the Shack is the best place for us to regroup. And hopefully I'll see you guys in a few minutes." I replied.

"What do you mean hopefully?" seemingly everyone asked.

"Remember where I am. I'm the farthest away from the shack and I'm alone"

"So why don't we just go and help your sorry ass" Sabrina asked. Well I'll be damned; she seems to care about my safety, sort of, "After all I don't think I could handle the shit Hershel and Claude would give me if I didn't try to help." And there went any good thoughts I had about her.

"Don't bother because honestly you guys could just find the security room and shut off the alarms if I don't make it in ten minutes. End of discussion." After saying that I turned off my com, and looked for the fastest way down, which would either be a broken escalator or a working flight of stairs (and yes they are the exact same thing).

*half an hour later*

"Me and my big mouth, next time we're separated I'm making sure that they either wait for me or come looking for me, no more being a hero." I thought aloud to myself. Stupid Boomers at all the fucking elevators, making it impossible for me to regroup with everyone and to make things even better, the fucking alarm was still ringing. Well I can't do any thing about the alarms except for hoping that Claude and everyone else make it to the security room. But considering every thing I believe I'm doing well, thank you stealth. But knowing my luck, I'm most likely going to run into something really bad really soon.

Well I guess my luck just really sucks because I was right. I heard the cries of what I was certain was a Witch, and that would make things complicated because I'm certain I can't sneak past her and killing her will attract even more Infected to me. To make things worse I don't even know where she is. Hopefully, however highly unlikely, I could sneak past her.

No more delays I told myself, this is do or die time. As I slowly moved to the direction of the Witch's crying, I took out my S&W M500 because it's the strongest weapon that I have. And when I think about it it's kinda funny that I used this to kill the Smoker Enzo. I followed the crying to a small clothing store and so I naturally peeked inside to see if the Witch was in an easily accessible part of the store. She wasn't, instead she was huddled in the back. But knowing that this wasn't like the game I wasn't sure what would agitate her and without knowing that it would be too dangerous to leave her alone if she was feral…that's it. Why didn't I think of this before because if she's not feral then she can help me in locating my friends… and Sabrina.

Unfortunately, there is only one way to find out if one of the Infected and that's to go up to one and see if it attacks. So I moved a little closer to where she was, and was rewarded with what she looked like. She was, as I suspected, not like the Witches in the game because she had really long platinum-blonde hair, wasn't anorexic looking (honestly why are all of VALVe's Witches so damn thin), had as much as I hate to admit it, her chest was bigger (I juts admitted to being a pervert didn't I? Great.). Now I just have to find out if she's feral or not but I'm not sure how to go about it.

Think Hayden think, there must be someone who would know how to handle this. Eureka, Claude would defiantly know what to do. And soon enough I had two ideas on what he would do. One: he would say 'Awwww looks like someone needs a hug' then he would get killed, two: he would shout 'Hey little emo girl quit angsting up the place other people nee-' then he would get killed…okay maybe he's not the best example, so I'll just do the exact opposite thing right?

Damn it I guess the old fashion way is the only way. So with my S&W M500 in hand, if things got ugly, I moved slowly to the Witch and asked "Excuse me ma'am, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm alright." She cried unconvincingly

.

"Okay seriously, tell me what's wrong?" I asked, somewhat aggressively, hoping that a little intimidation would work.

"Why would you care?" she spat out. Okay intimidation was not the answer, so maybe a real reason would work?

"Because I can't just leave a defenseless girl here alone" I said wholeheartedly

"Okay, what's wrong is that I don't know who I am, how I got here, or why I look like this" she said, and as she said that she started to cry again. Smooth move Hayden, making a girl cry. Hopefully I could get this situation around and get her to accompany me so she could watch my back.

"Well maybe you're memories will come back to you soon" I said unconvincingly and I could tell she knew but I sounded unsure because I thought I heard one of the Special Infected. I was right; it was a Hunter, good thing their growls are loud even at a distance. "There's not much time left before this little shop isn't safe anymore, so I'm only going to ask once. Would you like to accompany me and help me get to a safer place than here?"

She answered right away with yes, so I put away my S&W M500 and pulled out one of my MK 23 and asked "Do you know how to use one of these?"

"Yeah that's something that I still remember" she said somewhat happily. I guess that just remembering something about her life is something to be happy about. I was about to give her the pistol when I told her,

"You have only fifteen shots so when you need ammo let me know." It was relieving to know that she knew how to use the pistol because now I won't have to worry about protecting her. Now all I/we have to do is find the security room in this maze of a mall, and I know my luck will die on me so I'll be facing a Horde real soon.

"It just occurred to me that I never asked for your name, so would you be so kind as to tell me what it is?" I ask politely. The main reason I asked for it is not so much that I care but that it would be easier to call her by her name than the you, girl, or the Witch.

"That's another thing that I do remember. It's Miranda, Miranda Wolfe." She said rather proudly, but I'm sure that there's nothing to it.

"Well I guess that the first thing we should do is head to the Gun Shack for weapons for you and ammo for me. How does that sound?'' I asked for, and I mainly asked her because when you travel with people you don't know its best that you never ever piss them off, especially in a zombie situation, ever.

"That sounds good and all but maybe we should hit a wilderness survival store or something so we can grab some packs for food, and ammo I guess, and some, or a lot, of water." She responded

"That sounds like a plan. So we'll get the gear then the weapons. Alright so follow me 'cause I passed a store that fits the bill. But remember to stay quiet because the alarms cause the Infected to gather but any noise we make louder that the alarms will attract Them to us." I warned. She had a confused look as if she didn't know what They or the Horde are, but I'm glad she didn't ask about it here.

We made it to the wilderness survival store in about two minutes and I was glad that we didn't come across anything, and more importantly I was glad that everything was still in stock (I guess my luck isn't that bad after all). I quickly grabbed four duffel-bags and a backpack. I told Miranda to take the same things I did and luckily she did so without arguing. I then filled a few of the duffel with simple dry ration-like foods.

"Miranda, while this sounds a little crazy, only pack what you're comfortable carrying because we will come back here later." I said. Now she looked really confused but still followed my orders. "Alright now that you're ready, let's head on out."

When we walked out I noticed that there was a Horde that wasn't aware of us yet. Just my luck (guess I _was_ right about it after all). So I quickly and, more importantly, quietly pulled out my TAR, looked down the sights, and looked for the most accessible means of escape, and soon enough They noticed us.

"Miranda run to the emergency stair case In front of us" I shouted as I opened fire at the Infected in front of us. Unfortunately I was only able to him them in their shoulders but it was enough to cause them to stumble out of the way, giving Miranda a clear path. But of course when she reached the door of the emergency exit, it was locked, (who would lock an _**emergency**_ door anyway) luckily the MK. 23 I gave her was able to shoot out the lock with about seven shots. She quickly ran in and headed down while I followed backwards as to keep firing at the Infected that tried to follow. I stopped as soon as I crossed the threshold of the door and shot at anything that tried to get close. When I heard Miranda start shooting again, obviously to break the lock on the first floor door, I knew I did the smart thing otherwise we might have been overrun. When I heard that the firing of Miranda's gun had stopped I ran down the flight of stairs while still facing and attacking the Infected.

"Miranda bring some of the benches near you to barricade the door!" I shouted at her when I crossed the threshold of the door, slamming it shut. Soon enough she had brought a bench I laid in across the door but told her to bring more. After about ten minutes there were enough benches blocking the door to stop the advance of the Horde. For now at least. As I took a breather I noticed that the emergency exit had exited in front of a directory of the mall.

"Miranda," I called "Help me look for the Gun Shack and to see if we can find the security room of this mall." I was glad that she did help look for the two destinations of ours with me.

"The security room isn't listed on this stupid thing but the Gun Shack is really close to here." Miranda said as she walked away from the directory and towards me.

"All right then lets head over there so I can refill on ammo and so you can, and I mean no offence, get something better to use than just the pistol I gave you." I saw her get this look on her face as if I just slapped her so I explained my reasoning, "you only use one magazine for the gun, by the way hand it over," she did and I reloaded the gun and gave it back to as I was saying "while I had to use five of mine to keep Them off of us."

"Fine." Was all she said as she walked off to the Gun Shack. 'Good job Hayden you just went and pissed of the only person who could help you' I thought to myself. Hopefully she would get over it soon or I just might be in big trouble.

It only took us five minutes to reach the Gun Shack and I quickly restocked on my supply of ammo, then I filled a few of the duffle bags with the ammo types my friends and Sabrina were using. When I was done I headed to the register and opened it. It was empty.

"Why are you opening the register?" Miranda asked, I guess she heard the "ping" the register made when I opened it.

"It's quite simple" I started to say "It's because there are going to be some people that we'll meet that are still going to ask for cash if we want them to help us. And on the note of taking things from this store if any gun catches your eye, just take them, since no ones going to know who took them."

"But that seems so wrong." She replied.

"Well if it makes you feel any better I'm going to try and break open the safe they have stashed in the back."

"Why is there even a safe here?"

"Because this place is cash only" as I finished our conversation I looked for a strong looking weapon to help blow the hinges off the safe. After a few moments I can across a slightly modified Winchester Model 1887 10 gauge shotgun (it was modified 'cause it was missing it's stock and the barrel had been sawn off), I decided to test if it was strong enough to destroy the safe. When I entered the back room I nearly laughed when I busted the safe open. I know I've both busted and cracked open harder safes. When I realized what went through my mind I stopped laughing. Damn you Claude.

I was glad, I was able to get a little over $250K, so either lots of people bought lots of guns or this guy didn't deposit his money yet, not like it matters now. I decided that it was a good time to see if Miranda had picked any weapons.

When I reentered the main room I noticed that she had acquired a holster for the pistol I gave her, she had two IMI mini-Uzis (meaning that she'll be the fourth one of us that can shoot akimbo), a Remington M24A3 (finally we have someone who will be our sniper, that is unless Claude is hiding a sniper rifle in his giant case).

"So Miranda you ready to find that damn security room?" I asked.

"Yeah lets get this over with, the alarms are starting to piss me off." She replied.

"All right lets try starting on the top floor."

"That seems like a good idea"

"Good. Let's head out" I said as I started to walk out of the store, and while I was exiting I noticed an empty self with a sign underneath that read 'Don't forget this once in a lifetime deal and buy this Browning M2 machine gun'. Miranda walked not very far behind me, currently equipped with her M24 sniper rifle. Not long after we left the Gun Shack, we came across a working elevator, and we decided why the hell not and got in it.

We got off on the fifth floor and slowly worked our way through this wing of the mall. A few minutes of awkward silence passed between the two of us and I knew that this would get ugly fast if neither of us said anything but I couldn't think of anything to say, so I tried to escape into my mind to find a way out of this boredom. Well that worked for like five seconds. Damn it, so now I have to come up with a conversa-

"So," Miranda said casually, "You said that you're here with friends."

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I replied, secretly thankful that Miranda started the conversation and not me.

"Well if I'm going to be traveling with you guys I just want to know what their names are and what they look like."

"That sounds fair" I answered realizing that I would be very helpful and less confusing if she knew the names of the people she would soon be traveling with. "Okay first there's Claude Kogima, he stands at 6'3", has medium length dyed white hair, styled in a bed head fashion, three scars on the left side of his face from the ear to the lip, wears red, non prescription contacts. He is wearing a traditional black trench coat with a white tee underneath, and has pair of dark jeans and black steel-toed boots. Next is Cerena O'Connor, Claude's current girlfriend 5'7", Caucasian, dirty-blonde, wearing a red jacket, black cargo pants and white sneakers. Then there's Hershel Lionheart, an old friend of Claude and mine. He's a runt being 5'7". He's dressed casually, wearing a grey hoodie, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of running shoes. He has enough of red hair to cover the patch he wore over his right eye. Then there's the twins Jonathan and Dwight Springfield. They're obviously identical twins. The only difference between them was that Jonathan had black hair with gold streaks and Dwight had gold hair with black streaks. They dressed similarly, black pants, blue shirt, and black shoes, though Dwight was dressed more formally with slacks, an oxford shirt, and dress shoes while Jonathan, dressed in a blue tee, black jeans, and black running shoes, both are Caucasian. They stand at about 6'1". Finally there's Sabrina, she's about 5'6" had medium-long (past her shoulders) black hair with red highlights, green eyes, and looked slightly Asian, possibly Chinese or Japanese. She wore an open black zip-up with a black tee underneath, and black jeans. By the way she seems to really hate me."

"Wow" was all Miranda said.

"Yeah I know it's a lot of info." I replied.

"No not that. I'm surprise that you managed to say all of that in one breath."

"…" was all that came out while I did my perfect imitation of a fish trying to come up with an answer. I decided that it wasn't important and just shrugged and said "Well your guess is as good as mine on how I could say that without taking a breath in the middle of it."

That was all the talking we needed for we came across the bodies of dead Infected. This was a good since it meant that Claude and the rest of them had passed through here.

"Ok Miranda we're close to my friends since only they are this good at killing these damned things." I said

"You absolutely positive about that?" she asked skeptically.

"I'm sure. See how some are missing arms, legs, torsos, and groins?"

"Yeah, but I don't know how that you know that it makes if your friends." She said rather bluntly.

"I know it's them because Claude loves blowing arms off of things as well as torsos and groins. And Hershel has a thing about plowing the legs off of them, we're all not really sure why and neither does he and he constantly tries not to go for the legs."

"That's kinda really weird but I guess it's a good thing that we know that they came through here."

"Tell me about it." I said hoping that they were all right. "Alright we've spent enough time here, so let's get going." 'Since for all we know they could be in a tough spot' I thought to myself.

So we decided that we would just follow the carnage and hope for the best. And after about ten minutes we were rewarded when we heard the sound of several guns being fired at one. But the thing that surprised me was that I heard something that sounded more powerful than the weapons that I remember the rest of the group having, and there were no missing guns at the Gun-.

"Claude you crazy son of a bitch" was all I muttered, while smirking, when I realized what the powerful gun was.

"What did Claude do?" Miranda asked me confused as why I would randomly say what I did.

"He took the Browning M2 that was missing from the Gun Shack." I replied between small laughs. "So put your rifle away 'cause this is going to be in close quarters so I would suggest that you take out those Mini-Uzis of yours." She just nodded and did just what I told her to do and I was right she had a mini in both her hands, and while she did that I was pulling out my TAR-21. "So you ready to head out there shooting everything that attacks us while hoping that my friends don't manage to accidently shoot us?" Oh God I love the face that Miranda made when I said what I did, for it was evident that she started losing confidence about what we were going to do. But she finally nodded that she was ready.

With that said, we ran towards the source of the gunfire, and in a few moments we were greeted with the sight of several dozen, if not more, of Them all swarming towards Claude and co. When I looked in there direction I noticed that both Claude and Hershel had seen me and they were telling the others to pick their targets carefully or at least I hoped that they were.

Soon after that Miranda and I started shooting at everything that was in our way, and I was thankful that there were no Specials in the Horde. And for no good reason I started to take count on how many of Them I was killing, so far it was seven, plus the twelve that I took out at the emergency exit. I only reloaded two times before They got to close for me to safely reload so with my left hand I pulled out the 1911 from its convenient holster and started shooting while I tried to put my TAR back on my back.

When I looked a Miranda I noticed that she was really impressive with her guns, she didn't allow any of Them to get close to her. Anyway we slowly moved up to Claude's barricade and it was then that I noticed that Dwight was the one of the .50 cal.

Soon thanks to Miranda and I, the Infected in the immediate area were dealt with and I saw Cerena go behind the barricade and I then noticed that the alarms soon stopped. Well I'll be damned; they made it to the security room.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Claude said to me while grinning. "You obviously didn't get the invite did you?"

"Hey at least we weren't so late that your party was already over." I replied going along with the joke.

"So who's the girl that's with you?" Claude asked seriously. I expected Miranda to answer but instead she just tried herself behind me. If the situation was different I would've found it to be a really cute thing on her part.

"This," I said as I put Miranda in front of me, "is Miranda Wolfe. I found her in the back of a clothing store a while ago. Everybody make sure you play nice, for she doesn't remember much about herself after she became a Witch."

After I had said that I heard everyone gasp, except for Claude he went "Lé gasp"

"Why the hell do you have one of Them traveling with you?" Sabrina yelled furiously.

"Firstly, fuck you, that's why. Secondly, I would like to see you travel in a mall filled with Infected and not look for any kind of help. And thirdly, she's here because she's not feral." I shouted at Sabrina, effectively shutting her up.

"Well before we can have Miranda officially join us, she needs to answer a very important question. Do you prefer your kittens with or without ketchup?" Claude asked with a very serious face. I knew right off the bat that he didn't care either way and he just wanted to confuse her and have fun with everyone's reactions.

"Uuum, with" was all Miranda said uncertainly.

"Very good" Claude said as quickly lost the serious looking face and put on a giant grin. "Alright people, Miranda the witch is going to travel with us from now on."

"What!" shouted Sabrina "You be serious" Considering that no one said anything she continued "Fuck, you are"

"Any ways before I was rudely interrupted I was going to say two things. First, Hayden considering that you found her, you are the one who is responsible for her." He paused to see it any one had anything to say about it; while I just nodded that it was fine by me. "Second, and most importantly, I didn't think you were a big enough pervert to have help from a well endowed woman that's only in lingerie." As he said that several things happened. First, Claude was slapped several times by Cerena for what he said. Secondly I noticed that Miranda turned a bright shade of red. And thirdly I realized that he was right and I then proceeded to turn red in the face as well.

Then there was an awkward moment as I tried to figure out what to say. Luckily Cerena broke the silence with something helpful.

"Ok, Miranda, come with me we're going to get you something acceptable to travel in. Sabrina you come too."

"Do I ha-" was all Sabrina got out.

"Yes now shut up and get your ass over here." Cerena replied impatiently.

After they left to get some much needed clothes for Mirada I walked over to Claude and punched him in the arm as I said "Was that necessary? I mean did you have to embarrass the both of us?

"Yes it was necessary and you know it's my purpose in life to make sure that you're always embarrassed." Claude replied with the most sincere grin on his face.

"You're an ass you know that right?"

"Yeah I know. How could I forget, you, Hershel, and Cerena are contently reminding me of the fact." He replied off handedly.

"I hate you" was all I could come up.

"I know, and that's why I'm you best friend."

"Hey, what about me?" Asked Hershel, feeling left out.

"We haven't forgot about you" Claude and I answered simultaneously.

"Good because without me you two are just a pair of idiots." He said.

"Yeah and with you, the three of us are a crowd of idiots." I countered

"And a few more would make us a party of idiots." Said Claude.

"Anyway" I started "I hope I remembered the ammo you all use, so refill" when I finished I threw the duffle filled with all kinds of ammo.

"Dude you're a life saver" replied Hershel.

"I know but we should head over to the wilderness survival store so we can grab some canteens and dry foods." I said knowing that it would help in the long run.

"Claude, why didn't we think about that earlier?" everyone but Claude and I asked.

"Simple," started Claude, "because we knew that Hayden would think about it."

"To be honest, it was Miranda who first came up with the idea." I said giving credit where it was due.

"So you're telling me that Miranda not only has a body many would go gaga for, but she also has a brain. Damn Hayden you hit pay dirt with this one."

"Shut up" was all I said as I hit Claude on his other arm.

"You make it to easy Hayden so it's your own damn fault. Anywaaaaaaaay Springfields stay here and guard my new fifty with your lives. And if the girls get back before us let them know where we are." With that said Claude, Hershel, and I made our way to the wilderness survival store.

We came back about ten minutes later, and just to answer your questions the trip was uneventful, but Claude did pounce a Hunter just to let it know what it felt like to be pounced (I don't think he got over the fact that he was still the only one to be pounced so far) and yes the girls were back. To be honest I was surprised by Miranda's new attire. She was wearing a pair of black boots (if I had to guess a type they would be steel toed), a pair of khaki cargo pants, a tight black tee underneath a navy blue oxford shirt (the buttons above her bust were left unbuttoned); she was also sporting a pair of black fingerless leather gloves. Damn, they really know how to clean house don't they. And with Claude and Hershel being the idiots that they ate just what to whistle (at least Claude DID whistle, Hershel went "Wheet-whooo" because he can't whistle at all).

Needles to say Miranda was embarrassed for being put on the spot again and Cerena started hitting Claude and Hershel with a…where in the hell did she find a folding paper fan?

"Alright" I started "So where are we heading to now?"

"Well, there is a service elevator to the maintenance tunnels bellow the city in the security room. I suggest that we take those tunnels to head out towards the military base." Claude said after a second of thought.

"Well" I started as I turned to face to group, "Who's opposed to the idea?" No one was opposed, that was a great thing for that meant no one should complain too badly for the path that we are choosing to take.

"Alright then," said Claude, "Let's head out.

The elevator was big but because of Claude's M2 we had to take two trips, the first was Claude, Claude's M2, Cerena, Dwight, and Jonathan. The second was me, Miranda, Hershel, and Sabrina. Needles to say the trip down was relatively uncomfortable for there was a lot of tension in the air. When the doors opened I quickly got out of there.

The tunnels were tall and wide which help for transporting military vehicles around the city without disturbing the peace, also since our city can have flood problems these tunnels also serve as a path for the water to go to as not to destroy homes.

"So Claude do you know where the base is from here?" I asked

"Not a clue." He responded. The group deadpanned and I just face-palmed. "But I'm sure the arrows on the walls are a good indicator as where to go." Sure enough we noticed the there were arrows on the walls. Well we all felt like idiots but what can you do?

So we headed out, following the arrows, and everything was calm. I knew that wasn't good. We would either come across a dead end or we would come across a tank and I hope to god that we don't come across a tank. I was torn out of any thoughts that I had when I heard someone in the distance shout "Take that you god damned freak bag." Other than that there were sounds of dying Infected. Whoever was there we had to help. I looked over the Claude and his face told me that we should help him. So we quickly ran over to the direction of the survivor and hoping that we didn't get there too late.

We arrived just in time to save him from being Smoked, since Claude threw his Remington M870 at him. But I was surprised when I saw what the survivor was. He was a S.W.A.T. officer and still if full riot gear and he was using his ballistic shield to his advantage and considering that his nightstick was made to subdue it doesn't surprise me that he abandoned it for a lead pipe but the moment he had the shotgun he really started to damage all of the Infected around him. After the last of Them were dead he turned to us and said.

"I don't know who you guys are but I'm glad you showed up when you did." He started, "I've seen a lot of my men get carried away buy those things with the long as hell tongues. Thanks for the M870 by the way."

"It's not a problem" Claude answered him.

"Yeah I'm sure if our roles were reversed that you would have saved us.

"Yeah I would've but getting back to the matter on hand what are you civilians doing in these tunnels?" he asked.

"Were heading to the military base that is stationed here." Answered Claude, "I've got all the necessary paperwork that allows me to travel here with as many others I choose."

"That makes sense, and if it's not too much trouble do you think that I could travel with you guys for a while, considering you are the first I've seen that are more than capable of handling yourselves. And I know it would be to your advantage if I helped, after all others will show more respect considering you'll have an officer of the law on your side, not that I'll try to take control or anything." said the S.W.A.T. officer.

"It won't be a problem" I said, "But first we need to know your name."

"Of course, my name and rank is first lieutenant Adrian Sheppard" answered Sheppard.

"All right then you can keep the Remington and lets head out. And since your new mister first lieutenant we are following the arrows on the walls."

Sheppard acknowledged this with a nod and we headed out once again. And we were off once again.

We traveled along for maybe a quarter mile before we came across a closed flood gate. Now this shouldn't be a problem because there are airtight control rooms built next to the gates to keep operators safe from floods. We found the room but it was locked and that shouldn't be so because if there's no floods the doors to the control rooms should be unlocked since the lock from the inside . So Claude, Hershel, and I did the most reasonable thing to do and then we started to pound on the door as to get person inside to know that we were out here.

"Vat, vat do you vant?" said someone from inside the room

"Well we want you to open the door so we can get through." Said Claude.

"Oh, zat's all vell vhy didn't you just say zat instead of pounding on ze door."

"Well how else would we have gotten you to know we were here." Said Hershel

"Zat is a good point but you do not understand ze 'eadache you have given me because of zese."

"I don't understand how that could have given you a head ache unle– your drunk aren't you?" I asked the man.

"Vell of course I'm drunk, vhy vouldn't I be?" he responded

"Well can you at least get to opening the door?" asked Claude

"Sure is no problem let me just find ze right button. Oh I think I founds it."

***flood gate alarms from it slowly opening."**

"God damn it" Everyone and another male voice say. Wait another male voice. That came from behind our group. I turned around to see four individuals. A girl from our school in a red jacket, a biker who looked to be in at least his late thirties, an African business man, and an old man in a 27th Infantry, "Wolfhounds" army jacket.

"See I told you going down here would only cause us trouble" said the army vet to the biker.

"Calm down Bill, getting angry won't help." said the girl. Damn I know she's in a few of my classed. The professors don't like because she's always talking about the horror movies that she's always watching. I know we've talked to her before and even recommended a few movies for her and she gave us some good recommendations as well. So why don't I remember her fucking name?

"Zoey, I didn't think we would run into you." shouted Claude and Hershel (I can't believe I forgot her name, considering it was so simple), obviously excited to see someone from school, and more accurately someone in our class. And from the look on her face she didn't expect to see us either.

"Hey guys, I didn't expect to see you considering all that's happened to the city. And I'm impressed that you made it here without anyone who is trained in combat." Zoey said. I guess she hasn't noticed Adrian but she's still right since he just joined our little party that is getting to be not so little anymore.

"So Zoey how is it you know these kids?" Bill asked.

"Yeah she knows us" I answered for Zoey, "We had the same classes at school."

"That's right" Zoey said, "They even helped me when I started falling behind."

"Well" Hershel started "We wouldn't have had to if you didn't spend your time watching all those movies."

"Oh shut up, all three of you even gave me recommendations and I gave you some too."

"_Not_ that this isn't important and all but we're going to be in some deep shit real soon. So if you would please hurry this along." Said the biker.

"Sadly I agree with Frank/the big man" both the business man and I said. Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one to realize that we were waiting precious preparation time.

"Alright, Hayden and Mr. Suit have a point so Zoey you can go back to your group and everyone in mine listen up. We're going to hold this point until- hey you in the room what's your name?" Claude said.

"My name is Vincent van Bonbon" said the intoxicated Vincent.

"van Bonbon, what kind of name is that?" Said Bill.

"Von that can mess with your face." Replied Vincent.

"Well getting back on track" started Claude, "We'll hold out here until Vincent gets the door open, so Vincent make sure to find a way to open that fucking door."

"Zat vill be being no problem for me." Responded Vincent

"Well since we're stuck here too everyone help out Zoey's friends until we get out of here." Shouted Bill.

"We appreciate the help" both Claude and I said.

"I've been at this long enough to know that if someone doesn't shoot you off the bat then you should help them out." Replied Bill.

We all quickly got into the best possible defensive positions that we could, considering that there was nothing to use as cover.

***Horde moans, yells and screeches***

"Alright people get ready, because he they come." Claude shouted as he put his M2 down.

**There you go, please review while English is my first language grammar is not my best point**


End file.
